Is this a scam??

[Snakefood]

I answered an add for a young piebald BP, it was placed in the local kijiji. This is the response I got and I'm not sure what to think of it. So your opinions will help me figure out what I think about it and whether to respond.:confused:

Hello and thanks very much for the respond.I have both pieabald and albino pythons that i want to give out.There are very easy to handle and has a good relationship with people and other home pets such as dogs ,cats monkeys etc.Their weight are 500g and 450g respectively for the females are 9 months old while the male are 10 months old will be accompanied by a cities permits and also there license OK.There are also great eaters and eat regularly on frozen prepare food as such will make a very good home pet for you and your family .

All i need is a good and caring home that will meet up with any procedure if need to be ship.All you need do is promise me that you are going to take very good care of this snakes and provides them with a loving and caring home OK.

They will be going out for free adoption and a free box and all you need to pay is the shipping fee . I am giving them for
adoption because i am here for an assignment and my job requires a lot of time so i immediately realized that they are going to be lonely and as you know they are very delicate creatures and need alot of care and devotion and that is why i have decided to give them out to a loving and caring home where they will be loved and will be given all the time they need,I am shipping them from cameroon and they are also coming with all the papers.


How many snakes do you want ?,where are you located?,how soon do you need this snakes ship to you . However, I can have them
delivered to you if you can promise me and also assure me that their safety is going to be your concern.

Where are you located...................?
Have you ever had snakes before .......?
I promise to take care of them .............?
To provide images of them so that i see how they are doing ........?
which one will you like to adopt.................?
How soon do you need this snakes......................?
Then get back to me with your complete contact information ........?

Thank you and come back to me if you think you can provide a good home. Here are some of their photos of snakes, the hope is the love them. then get back to me with your full address, complete address ,phone
number,Zip code,City/State and the address of the closest airport to your location so that i should contact the shipping agency,

Regards. and God bless you and your
family


:confused: And then if I do respond and want the piebald, what do you think it would cost me for shipping?? I can get a male piebald here for $900. So anything over that makes it not worth my while.

[infernalis]

ask?

you never know until you ask the advertiser.

Also, insist on paypal so you have recourse if ripped off.

[totheend]

Yeppers, that is a scam....and an old one at that.

[Gungirl]

Yes Its a scam. I have seen almost that Identical message but not for snakes but for hunting dogs.

[ZARADOZIA]

I vote scam

[alessia55]

A giveaway for scams like these is incorrect spelling and grammar
"the hope is the love them"
"I promise to take care of them .............?"
",how soon do you need this snakes ship to you"
I wouldn't give out any credit card information to anyone (especially a stranger) over the phone or e-mail or anything like that. He's not a reputable breeder, you don't know the condition of the animal (if the animal even exists), etc. The only way I would take this sort of an ad is if you could meet the individual in person in a public place to make the exchange. Be careful! If it sounds too good to be true... it just might be that.

[millertime89]

screw with them, its fun.

[Lankyrob]

I play people like this along until the actual money changes hands, the longer they spend answering my questions the less time they have to scam others!!

[shaunyboy]

i've seen the exact same scam a few times over here

cheers shaun

[DeesBalls]

as said before, its a scam, i had the same thing going on when i was looking for my Yorkshire terrier puppy..

[ilovemypets1988]

its a scam for definate;

A.) its too repetative to be lugitamate.
B.) spellings to shody at best.
C.) noone needs that much personal info, to ship, they only need ur address.
D.) no1 would give a piebald or albino bp away if they can sell them locally and very easily.
E.) it doesnt make enough sence what so ever.

[Snakefood]

Alright, thanks guys! My gut was telling me something was up, but I also didn't want to miss a great deal if it wasn't a scam. After having the 2 surrendered corns dropped off to me I really can't do another new snake right now anyways (quarantine's full)

[Skumbo]

I dunno guys, he offered me a rolex for $40 as a combo deal if i agreed to buy a piebald, it'd be icing on the cake, i always wanted a submariner!

[Psyche]

Ive had these same people try to scam me with a dog -.-

[KORBIN5895]

I know its an old post but did we all miss that it's being shipped from Cameroon? What the heck did he take a pied there for?

[Psyche]

Thats where they operate apparently. When they finally told me they were sending the dog (hadnt paid yet) they came out of nowhere and said it was in cameroon and to go to the nearest bank of the west and send them the money to get it on the plane. i just said no thanks and left it at that.

[Skumbo]

Im not sure why my "new posts" feed is being weird, this is my second necro today from it saying there were new posts in a thread from before i joined. sorry about that, lol!

I'm going to "mark all read" and see if that fixes it. Durrrr

(oh and look at post times from now on.. doh!)

[millertime89]

it just acted weird for me too, not sure what's up, but I've noticed that happens on other boards powered by v-bulletin sometimes as well.

[slithermama]

i answered the same ad for the piebald, thought i hit the jackpot but alas i gave all my info and nothin, they never got back to be about anything. i even call my local airport and they said no snake shipment was called in.so dissappointing, broke mine and hubbies hearts.

[Snakefood]

ya, it looks like these scam artists are using the redleaf classifieds regularily. I have answered a couple other ads SPECIFYING that I am only interested in snakes that are physically IN north america. They still write back with why thier snake is in some island paradise.

The last one was apparently a christian missionary who could no longer take care of her 2 high white piebald snakes.

[KORBIN5895]

The Christian missionary line is quite popular with the scammers these days.

[Snakefood]

ya, that's why if it's not on the same continent I am, then I'll look elsewhere.

[SnakeyJay]

I see adds almost exactly the same as this on UK sites as well... Steer well clear lol :D